Cheating Death ~ Revived From Icy Nordic Grip...

Epic story! David Martin, CNN's Senior Medical Producer, writes From an icy slope, a medical miracle emerges about Anna Bågenholm's recovery from extreme hypothermia...

"Bågenholm slid down a steep, icy gully and ended up submerged head first in a hole in the ice in a mostly frozen stream. Only her skis and Telemark boots and bindings protruded from the thick, opaque ice. As the 29-year-old struggled, her friends Marie Falkenberg and Torvind Næsheim began a frantic effort to free her, made impossible by a torrent of frigid spring runoff pouring over them into the hole where their friend was submerged. [...] rescuers cut a hole downhill from Bågenholm and pulled her through the opening. She had been under the ice for about 80 minutes. "I thought we were taking a friend, dead, out of the water," [...] And the decision was made. We will not declare her dead until she is warm and dead." [...] the waiting team at the hospital were hoping the CPR that Bågenholm received after being pulled from the stream had provided enough oxygen to her chilled brain. When it's cold, the brain needs far less oxygen than it does at normal temperature, 98.6 degrees (37 Celsius), and Bågenholm was definitely cold. Her body temperature was just 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13.7 degrees Celsius). No one had ever been that cold for that long and survived. Rushed to Operating Room 11 at the hospital, surgeons rerouted Bågenholm's blood through a heart-lung machine and slowly warmed it. More than three hours after her heart stopped, Gilbert recalled watching the video probe of Bågenholm's heart. "It was standing completely still. No movement. I just saw some little shivering. No fibrillation. And suddenly it contracted. Pssh," Gilbert said, squeezing his fists to mimic a beating heart. "And there was a pause and pssh. A second contraction." Gilbert tears up at the memory. Bågenholm was alive, but months of recovery lay ahead."

Absolutely great! And evidence of so much more we need to learn about hypothermia, cryonics, healthcare, extreme medicine, and the works! Kudos to friends Falkenberg & Næsheim, Policeman Mikkalsen, Rescuer Singstad, Doctor Gilbert, and Bågenholm herself!